The Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB) was established in accordance with DoD Directive 5105.60 "to formulate, review, and
recommend standards for Motion Imagery, associated Metadata, Audio, and other related systems" for the Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence
Community (IC), and National System for Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG). The MISB exists under the Geospatial Intelligence Standards Working Group (GWG)
which is operated by the GEOINT Standards Center of Excellence division at NGA.

The MISB meets three times a year (typically February, June and October) in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The MISB is comprised of working
groups that address different functional areas regarding Motion Imagery.

Any Motion Imagery (MI) System subject to the DoD IT Standards Registry (DISR) is subject to MISB standards and requirements. In the
production of a Motion Imagery System or components for use within the DoD/IC communities, such systems and components are subject to MISB standards and
requirements.

Any imaging system that provides the functionality of collecting, encoding, processing, controlling, exploiting, viewing, and/or
storing Motion Imagery as defined in MISP-2015.1 or later. This explicitly includes, but is not limited to, phenomenologies such as Electro-optical (EO),
Infrared (IR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Multi-spectral (MSI), and Hyper-spectral (HSI). Video Teleconference (VTC), Video Telemedicine, and Video
Support Services applications DO NOT fall within the purview of the MISB and are not subject to its requirements.

Motion Imagery is a sequence of Images, that when viewed (e.g. with a media player) must have the potential for providing informational or
intelligence value. This implies the Images composing the Motion Imagery are: (1) generated from sensed data, and (2) related to each other both in time
and in space. Some sensed data, such as Visible Light and Infrared, can be used directly to form Images, while others, such as SAR and LIDAR, require a
conversion to a viewable Image. To satisfy the time and space relationship the capture time (i.e. the time the Image was taken) of each successive Image
must be sequentially in order and the space relationship between each successive Image must have some recognizable visual overlap with the previous Image.

Full Motion Video (FMV) is a term used within the military and intelligence communities. As used, FMV implies a very narrow subset of Motion Imagery;
one that assumes geo-spatial metadata, commercial image formats and playback rates. FMV has no formal definition and conveys different meanings to different
communities; therefore, the term FMV should not be used in any contractual language.

Older systems used MISB EG 0104, which has been deprecated. The Motion Imagery Standards Profile (MISP) codifies all MISB requirements, Standards,
and Recommended Practices. The MISP is found on the MISB website, and is cited in the DISR.

The MISB website is http://www.gwg.nga.mil/misb. The MISP (Motion Imagery Standards Profile) and all Standards (STs), Recommended Practices
(RPs), and Technical Reference Material (TRMs) can be found there. A good starting point is to review the Motion Imagery Handbook, which provides
fundamentals on Motion Imagery and sets the stage for a better understanding of the MISP. The MISP defines requirements which programs can use in the acquisition
phase; it also includes references to all MISB STs, RPs and TRMs. For access to draft documents, test files, and other support documentation follow
the instructions on the website to apply for an account to access the MISB protected website.

A document is eligible to be a Standard when it meets at least one of the following criteria:

Facilitates interoperability and consistency

Defines metadata elements

Where the MISP term Standard (ST) is used, the MISP item mandates binding technical implementation policy, and as such, should be identified in Government
procurement actions as a mandatory conformance item in order for vendor offerings to be accepted by the Government.

A document begins the standards process as "Developing", where it is authored and presented for community review and approval. Once adopted the developing
Standard moves to an "Approved" status. Standards that are obsolete or replaced are declared "Deprecated", while those no longer in use are "Retired".

A document is considered a RP when it:

Provides guidance that facilitates the implementation of a Standard

Is not required for interoperability, but when used states requirements for its usage

Recommended Practices should be considered technical implementation policy. They may be identified in Government procurement actions as a mandatory conformance
item in order for vendor offerings to be accepted by the Government.

Additional information on document initation, review and adoption processes can be found on the MISB website under MISB PROCEDURES.

There are several GOTS and COTS tools available from a variety of government contracting companies as well as a few commercial companies. The
MISB cannot make recommendations regarding software and hardware solutions.

NGA is responsible for overseeing conformance testing to GEOINT standards.

Results from conformance testing are submitted to the NSG GEOINT Functional Manager Standards Assessment (GFMSA) program, which ultimately
provides NGA's inputs on GEOINT conformance to JITC's Interoperability Certification process on a per program basis.

NGA oversees the process whereby a Motion Imagery System achieves and sustains conformance through the NGA Conformance Program for Motion Imagery.

The Motion Imagery Standards Board (MISB), acting as NGA's delegate for Motion Imagery, has developed the NGA Conformance Program Plan for Motion Imagery
and the NGA Conformance Test Plan for Motion Imagery as of October 2017. The plans outline the policies and procedures to assess conformance of a Motion Imagery
Sytem or data.

The MISP states requirements and specifies standards for maximizing interoperability in the production, exchange and use of Motion Imagery.

The NGA Conformance Program Plan for Motion Imagery prescribes test policies, defines the roles and responsibilities of participating organizations, outlines test
processes, and identifies artifact repositories for test reports and certificates of conformance. A companion document, the NGA Conformance Test Plan for Motion
Imagery, defines the baseline suite of tests, test procedures, test equipment and test report templates to document results of conformance testing. The NGA
Conformance Test Plan for Motion Imagery is specifically tailored to measure conformance to the MISP issued by the MISB.

Of the approved compression algorithms (MPEG-2, H.264, H.265 and JPEG 2000), which is recommended?

H.265 yields the best image quality for bandwidth constrained applications with data rates approximately one-half that of H.264. This improvement
comes with increased complexity in the encoder as the encode/decode process is asymmetrical; however, with H.265 widely adopted in the commercial world there are
many avenues to mitigate this issue. For High Definition and above on-platform applications, H.265 is the recommended choice given the bandwidth-constrained realities
of the communication links.

JPEG 2000 is an intraframe compression technology, and produces 2-3 times the data of MPEG-2. However, JPEG 2000 accommodates large frame (Gpixels) sizes, more than three
spectral bands, bit depths per pixel upto 32-bit and offers low (1 frame) latency. This makes JPEG 2000 useful in Large Volume Motion Imagery (LVMI) applications. For
more information regarding LVMI systems see the section below.

MISB EG 0104: Predator UAV Basic Universal Metadata Set was the first step in moving away from the analog metadata used by the initial
RQ-1's. Although still supported by the MISB for legacy systems, there is no reason to use it in a new system. Any information conveyed with MISB EG 0104 can
be conveyed with MISB ST 0601 with greater precision and bit-efficiency.

KLV is expressed in binary bits, which provide a very efficient representation of data. XML contains a great deal of padding, and although
"human readable", it wastes precious bandwidth. KLV metadata can be translated into human-readable XML (and vice versa) without loss of information,
if necessary.

SMPTE developed the standard for KLV encoding of metadata. SMPTE produces and maintains a KLV metadata dictionary (SMPTE RP 210). Various
organizations are allowed to buy part of the KLV domain name-space to maintain private metadata dictionaries. The DoD was the first organization to take advantage
of this offer. Initially, most of the metadata keys used by the MISB were registered in SMPTE RP 210, but, over time, several issues became apparent.
First, it can take 12-24 months to get a new KLV metadata key approved by SMPTE. Second, SMPTE does not give tight definitions to their metadata elements.
MISB ST 0807 is the metadata dictionary for elements in the DoD private domain space. The MISB can assign keys quickly if necessary (a week is
common), and can define their meaning and usage to whatever exactitude is necessary. Finally, because the keys in MISB ST 0807 are not published to the
general public, it is possible to maintain classified keys.

MISB ST 0902: Motion Imagery Sensor Minimum Metadata Set is a required metadata set. Depending on your mission requirements and CONOPS,
you may need to support more than the baseline elements from MISB ST 0902 defined in other MISB documents.

A timestamp is a value derived from a known time scale specified to a certain resolution and known format. Timestamping aides the search and
discovery process. Timestamps provide a means to align metadata with collected Motion Imagery for event analysis and exploitation. It is not uncommon for
platform metadata to be collected earlier, later or at a different rate than the Motion Imagery. For example, platform elevation, heading and speed might be
collected at 7 Hz (frame per second), while the Motion Imagery might be collected at 30 Hz. Timestamping both the Motion Imagery and metadata allows for
interpolation of the metadata, if needed, for processing or exploiting a given Motion Imagery frame.

All Motion Imagery and metadata are required to have a timestamp. The MISB standards define the format and location of timestamps in Motion
Imagery and metadata. MISB ST 0603: MISP Time System and Timestamps, specifies the MISP Time System, which is an absolute time scale from which a Precision
Time Stamp is derived. MISB ST 0605: Encoding and Inserting Time Stamps and KLV Metadata in Class 0 Motion Imagery, describes how to insert timestamps into
uncompressed Motion Imagery, while MISB ST 0604: Timestamps for Class 1/Class 2 Motion Imagery describes how to insert timestamps into compressed Motion Imagery.

In general, asynchronous metadata is not registered to a particular frame in the Motion Imagery (MI). Units of metadata travel in close
proximity to corresponding events in the MI, but this proximity can vary depending on how the MI and metadata information is processed. If the asynchronous
metadata has a timestamp, the metadata can be correlated with a MI frame (some interpolation of the metadata may also be required).

Synchronous metadata is registered in temporal alignment with MI frames. Events in the imagery can then be accurately associated with the corresponding metadata.
It is preferred that all future MI systems employ synchronous metadata.

MISB ST 1402: MPEG-2 Transport of Compressed Motion Imagery and Metadata details how to add metadata using either method with Motion Imagery.

MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS) was designed originally for digital television transmission. As an international standard, it is widely supported
and many tools are available for testing and compliance. The value in Motion Imagery is greatly increased when augmented with metadata, and MPEG-2 TS provides
an excellent vehicle to deliver Motion Imagery and Metadata as a unified package.

Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) is designed to deliver real time media, such as video and audio, over internet protocol (IP). Specifically,
RTP addresses the public internet, where quality-of-service (QoS) is not guaranteed. RTP is a protocol layer added (typically) on top UDP that adds a time
stamp and count to every data packet to aid the receiver in reconstructing the stream when packets suffer latency, become reordered, or are lost in the network.
MPEG-2 transport stream does not do as well in such environments because it was designed for constant delay networks like broadcast. Some systems do use RTP to
carry MPEG2 transport stream at the expense of additional data overhead and may be less robust in the presence of lost packets.

RTP generally is accompanied with the bi-directional server/client protocol RTCP (RTP Control Protocol). RTCP provides network and timing information between
video senders (servers) and receivers (clients). Clients and servers use this information to determine QoS operating points and to maintain
real-word time synchronization. Finally, RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) provides information that allows clients and servers to describe and establish
video streaming sessions and it gives clients TiVo-like control for the client to record, rewind, stop, play, and fast-forward the stream. MISB ST 0804: Real-Time
Protocol for Motion Imagery and Metadata addresses the use of RTP.

JPIP (JPEG 2000 Interactive Protocol) is similar in spirit to RTP and RTSP (there currently is no RTCP equivalent within JPIP). JPIP is a
client/server streaming protocol that provides interactive delivery of JPEG 2000 compressed imagery. It allows a client to specify a region-of-interest within
a larger image at a desired resolution and image quality, and have the data streamed to a client. Using JPEG 2000 and JPIP together it is possible to
browse very large images (1 Gpixel and up) on lightweight clients (PDAs). This is possible because only small portions of the compressed image are streamed
from the server to the client. As the client changes its viewing region, the server streams new information to the client to update the image display. The
MISB anticipates that JPIP will find use in LVMI applications.

What are the differences between file transfer, progressive download, and streaming?

File transfer is based on FTP, a protocol that guarantees delivery of a file to a receiver. FTP operates over TCP/IP,
and therefore all packets are assured they will be received as transmitted. Because of this the download of a file using FTP can take a long time, and the user
must wait for the content to be delivered in its entirety prior to viewing. Progressive download helps this by invoking a buffer in the receiver that will
display the content after sufficient data has been received; the user must still wait, however.

Streaming is designed to accommodate real time delivery of content and is appropriate for live events and time-sensitive applications. Streaming
over IP typically uses UDP/IP (although MPEG-DASH is a streaming technology that uses TCP/IP), and for this reason there is no guarantee all packets transmitted
will be received. Because of this, the quality of content received via streaming may fluctuate as the server/client attempt to deliver the stream as fast as possible
to meet real time delivery. Image size, frame rate, and compression factor are adjustments made to meet the channel bandwidth. See MISB TRM 0803: Delivery of Low
Bandwidth Motion Imagery and MISB TRM 0703: Low Bandwidth Motion Imagery - Technologies for more information.

At this time, the MISB advocates the MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS), AAF (Advanced Authoring Format) and MXF (Material eXchange Format) as file
containers. MPEG-2 TS is a delivery format that also serves as a storage container. AAF can accommodate historical editing and updates of content as it moves through its
production. MXF is emerging as a format that can manage complex content and metadata, and is also designed for exchange of motion imagery. The "best"
container to choose is application dependent.

LVMI systems typically collect very high pixe-density imagery (100 Mpixels to a 10 Gpixels per frame) using arrays of cameras or
multiple focal plane sensors, which are then composited into one single image.